The Red Sox will be all set at DH next year if Justin Turner exercises his 2024 option. Turner has brought professionalism to the lineup and leadership to the hitters' meetings. He turns 39 in November, though, so he probably shouldn't play much in the field.
The Red Sox will be all set at DH next year because Masataka Yoshida has shown enough offensively to merit a spot in the lineup -- although more power would be nice -- but he's an atrocious left fielder who ranks among the five worst defenders in baseball by some metrics. Just hand him a bat and make room for Ceddanne Rafaela or Jarren Duran in the starting lineup.
The Red Sox will be all set at DH next year because Rafael Devers can always slide over there if his glove continues to regress. He's on track to lead American League third basemen in errors for a record sixth straight season, so the Red Sox should upgrade their defense at the hot corner and keep Devers' bat in the lineup. It's tough to make a $300 million player a DH, but hey, this is just reality.
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The Red Sox will be all set at DH next year if Triston Casas pulls a David Ortiz and just makes the position his own. Casas has also had a rough go of things in the field, but that's OK, because he's tailor-made for DH, at 6-foot-5 and over 250 pounds. He's almost certainly going to end up there at some point anyway.
The Red Sox will be all set at DH next year if they sign Shohei Ohtani for $500 million and give him a year to heal from whatever surgery he decides to have on his elbow. Ohtani is worth that money for his offense alone, and even though he has all the tools to be an elite outfielder, does anyone really want him uncorking missiles from right field with a bad elbow? Safer to let him DH and see if he can top 60 homers.
Taken individually, any one of the preceding paragraphs makes perfect sense. Taken collectively, they're yet another indictment of a roster that has yet to place a proper value on defense, and could be locked into more butchery next season.
Even if Turner finds a better offer elsewhere, and even if Ohtani never seriously considers Boston, the Red Sox still have too many DHs and nowhere to play them all. Yoshida can't play defense and is only going to get worse as he ages. But he's also only a slightly better version of Alex Verdugo offensively -- a line drive hitter with borderline doubles power who's not exactly the classic mashing DH.
Meanwhile, Devers continues to cycle through distressing defensive slumps, and at this point, it's hard to envision him ever being anything other than a complete liability at third base. How many more years do we need to see it? But moving him to DH could kill his confidence and hurt his offense, not to mention call into question the wisdom of devoting so many resources to such a one-dimensional player.
There's time for Casas to improve at first, and he at least shows the intermittent ability to scoop tough throws or make plays around the bag. He's no lost cause, at least not yet, but the Red Sox need him to be better or they'll have to take his glove away, too. At least he's mashing at the plate.
Add prospects Nick Yorke and Blaze Jordan, and the Red Sox have a pipeline of all-hit, no-field types. This is potentially good news for their offense, but it doesn't begin to address their biggest weakness at the big league level, which is a porous defense.
Unless MLB's next round of rules changes adds more DHs to the lineup, the Red Sox are going to be left with a logjam of their own making.